Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A transfer switch is an electrical switch that reconnects an electric power source from its primary source to a standby source. A transfer switch may be manually or automatically operated. In an example, an automatic transfer switch may be installed where a backup generator is located, so that the generator may provide temporary electrical power if the utility source fails. Automatic transfer switches may utilize a transfer-switch controller for controlling various functions of the transfer-switch, such as sensing, timing, and control functions.
Transfer-switch life expectancy may exceed the life of the transfer-switch controller. For example, a transfer-switch controller may be replaced before the transfer switch itself needs to be replaced, and the transfer-switch controller may be replaced due to obsolete components, technology upgrades, or internal faults of the transfer-switch controller. Replacing a transfer-switch controller may result in a number of disadvantages, including but not limited to significant downtime of the transfer switch, loss of data, and errors in reconfiguration of the transfer switch and the new transfer-switch controller for the transfer switch.